Same-Sex is Family, Too; Air Sex Kicks Off in NY; Beastly Beauties Protest for PETA

Amid the noise about gay marriage, most Americans are accepting, not excepting.

New polling research has uncovered that the majority of Americans consider same-sex married couples and same-sex couples with children not as rogue elements on the fringe of society, but as good old-fashioned families.

The findings are published by the Russell Sage Foundation today in Counted Out: Same-Sex Relations and Americans’ Definitions of Family. Polling was conducted in 2003, 2006 and this year by Brian Powell, a sociology professor at Indiana University and lead author of the book.

“This is not because more people are gay now than in 2003,” Powell said of the new trend in familial acceptance. “This indicates a more open social environment in which individuals now feel more comfortable discussing and acknowledging sexuality. Ironically with all the anti-gay initiatives, all of a sudden people were saying the word ‘gay’ out loud. Just the discussion about it made people more comfortable.” It’s about time, too.

In more “fun for the whole family,” the World Air Sex Championship is geared to get off—figuratively—in Brooklyn, New York on October 9th. (If you’re not in the NYC area, don’t fret. Air Sex is probably coming to a town near you anyway.) The competition involves participants acting out their favorite, full-on sexual experiences to the delight of a live studio audience—without partners or props, of course. It’s like air guitar, but with sex. Costumes are allowed, though, and the winner with the best solo bump-and-grind will get to moan up the finals in Austin, Texas. But, will the results be safe for work, or not safe for work?

Elsewhere, animal-rights group PETA has been delightfully not safe for work for a cause, and their most recent protest at Fashion Week keeps up that trend. In silent protest of designer Dennis Basso’s collection of chinchilla, sable, python and alligator skin fashions, the rather-go-naked activists waved signs, wearing nothing but bikini bottoms and beastly body paint. But it’s the fuzzy tails that really complete their ensembles. Rowr.